For example, while staying with my grandparents, Kayla slept in the port-a-crib that all 8 of their grandchildren slept in 14+ years ago. And since we are on vacation, sleeping is sort of like driving blind. Who knows when it will happen or how long. Therefore, I spent a large portion of my last couple days in Glen Ellyn standing over the port-a-crib, patting Kayla's butt to get her to just, for the love of God, fall asleep.
Because of this, my hamstrings are killing me. I wasn't sure they could hold me up any longer. Because Lord knows I couldn't lean on the rail of the port-a-crib because inevitably, when I went to move my arm, the crib would creak as I carefully tried to remove it from the rail. And, I know you other moms know what I'm talking about, the "slow pat" is a bitch when you are doing it for 10-15 minutes, leaning over a crib. The "slow pat" is kinda like the "slow clap" except instead of getting faster and louder, the patting gets gentler and quieter. Exactly like my favorite blogger put it (and I still laugh every time I read this):
"If you added it all up, I'm sure I spent a good two hours slumped over the railing of her crib with my eyes closed, patting her back and praying, for the love of God, that she wouldn't cry when I made the decision to finally withdraw my hand (gradually, of course, because any mom knows a full-on patting session must first decrease to a slower pat, then slower, then slow plus light, then lighter--until your fingertips are barely grazing their back. Then and only then can you quietly pull away with the chance they won't realize you've dismissed yourself)."
So between slow patting and leaning over, my body is physically tired. Then add in the lack of consecutive hours of sleep causing my mind to be tired, I'm just plain old tired, more like exhausted.
BUT, yesterday, Kayla got woken up by the extreme loudness of the grand finale of the fireworks in the park across the street from my grandparents house. So when I got back my grandpa was holding her. I took her to feed her and put her back to bed, and she was having a REALLY hard time falling asleep because kids across the street were setting off more fireworks in the middle of the street (read SUPER loud and I wanted to go outside and scream at them, "I HAVE A BABY SLEEPING INSIDE THIS HOUSE LESS THAN 30 YARDS FROM YOUR LAUNCH PAD!") Well, I decided I'd hold her and rock a little and pat her back and eventually, she lowered her head to that position babies get in on your shoulder when sleeping where the side of their head is resting on your shoulder and you can feel their little breaths in the crook of your neck. I love that, makes everything worth it.
Watching Aunt Megan and Aunt Lauren run the Freedom Four Miler
